- It witnesses the maximum number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on Earth.
- This seismically active belt encircles almost the entire Pacific Ocean, on its eastern side is the western coast of the Americas, and on its western side lies the Far East and Oceania.
- It touches countries like the United States, Mexico, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan and Russia.
- According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Ring of Fire accounts for more than 80% of the planet’s largest earthquakes.
- It is home to multiple subduction processes, in which the Pacific tectonic plate is clashing against continental land.
- Subduction – It is a geological process in which one tectonic plate, put simply, a large section of the Earth’s crust — presses against another.
- Usually, the heavier or denser plate, that is, the one with more mass per unit of area, tends to go below the lighter plate.
- But this process results in deformities and creates a huge stress at the plate boundaries. It is this stress that is released in the form of earthquakes.
- The Himalayas were created due to subduction, as a result of the Indian plate pushing against the Eurasian plate.
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